Electrical cables that are terminated on opposing ends with electrical plugs have long been used to interface computing devices with one another. For example, electrical cables have been used to interface desktop and laptop computers with handheld computing devices, such as mobile phones and smart phones. More recently, optical cables terminated on opposing ends with optical plugs and hybrid cables terminated on opposing ends with hybrid plugs have been used to interface computing devices with one another. Optical cables include a few optical fibers and the plugs that terminate them include optical-to-electrical (OE) and electrical-to-optical (EO) conversion circuits for converting optical signals into electrical signals, and vice versa.
Hybrid cables typically include a few electrical wires and a few optical fibers. Hybrid plugs that are used to terminate hybrid cables have both electrical contacts and optics systems. The electrical contacts of the hybrid plug are used to couple electrical signals between the ends of the electrical wires of the hybrid cable and electrical contacts of an external receptacle of an external device, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a mobile phone, or a smart phone. The optics system of a hybrid plug is used to couple optical signals between the ends of the optical fibers of the hybrid cable and an OE conversion circuit of the plug. The OE conversion circuit of the plug is electrically coupled to electrical circuits of the external computing device to which the plug is connected. Alternatively, the optics system of the hybrid plug may couple optical signals between the ends of the optical fibers and an optics system of an external computing device. In the latter case, the external computing device contains an OE conversion circuit for converting optical signals into electrical signals and an EO conversion circuit for converting electrical signals into optical signals. In both cases, the external computing device includes a receptacle that is configured to receive and mate with the hybrid plug.
Efforts are continuously being made in the computing industry to decrease the thicknesses of computing devices. As the thicknesses continue to decrease, the corresponding dimensions of the receptacles on the computing devices that receive the plugs also decrease. Consequently, the corresponding dimensions of the plugs must also decrease. With respect to hybrid plugs, as their dimensions decrease, the corresponding dimensions of the optical surfaces of the optics systems of the hybrid plugs must also decrease. As the dimensions of this optical surface decrease, the task of wiping off the optical surface to remove any dirt and debris becomes increasingly challenging. In addition, the optical surface is typically recessed relative to the end face of the hybrid plug, which also makes the task of wiping off the optical surface challenging. The ability to wipe off the optical surface is critical to maintaining good optical signal quality.
Accordingly, a need exists for a hybrid plug that can be made very thin and that has an optical surface that is disposed in such a way that it can be easily wiped clean. A need also exists for a thin receptacle that is configured to receive the thin hybrid plug to form a thin connector assembly.